The Match
by 66000
Summary: Castle is a fighter, like punching and kicking. Kate is his trainer. They train each other, in and out of the ring, will feelings surface? AU
1. Chapter 1

The whole mass of his body slammed into my ribcage, sending me flying backwards. Had I been weaker, had I not prepared for this, I would have fallen. It would have all ended there. I would be staring up at the dark sky not able to tell faces from stars. He wouldn't have stopped there though he would have climbed on top of me, making me sink deeper into the darkness. But Kate had trained me well, she had pushed me to my breaking point every chance she got and eventually I became stronger, I became her equal, we pushed each other and became better. Because of her I was able to recover, because of her I would win. Not only now but always. She was my driving force. I could feel her eyes on me as I threw a hard kick to the man's solar plexus; she'll reprimand me for fighting fair after the match, but will be secretly pleased with my noble efforts, as noble as you can get in a situation like this. This man is not weak; he is a well-rounded fighter and responds to my blow with a hard left punch to the jaw. I will have a bruise when this is over and will wear it like a badge of honor, maybe if I'm lucky my driving force will tend to my wounds. As my thoughts absently worm their way back to Kate I wonder if I should be thinking this much during a fight. I easily finish this man off though with three punches to the chest in rapid succession and a solid kick to the ribs. He falls and does not get up. He is not unconscious, just smart enough to know he can't win. I do not here the ref yelling or the crowd cheering, I just barely feel him raise my arm. My thoughts have gone back to my trainer. I had been in a daze like state until I heard her speak.

"Good fight Rick, but you have to stop thinking. You could've had him out cold in two seconds! I swear I'll never know what captures that mind of yours."

"I'm sorry Kate; I need more of a challenge! After sparring with you, everything else pales in comparison." Her cheeks reddened.

"Rick you'll never last in a tougher fight if you keep thinking! You can't have your mind elsewhere Rick, this is serious business I couldn't bear to see you hurt." I shook my head, trying to clear it and make sure she had just said those words to me.

"What?" I asked hopping for her to repeat the words I so desperately wanted to here.

"Uh, if you have your mind elsewhere during a fight you could get hurt." I nodded sadly. "Also if you want to get a harder match you're going to have to stop fighting fair." I nodded again. She smiled at me.

"Alright Ricky, let's get you iced up, then off to bed." I raised an eyebrow.

"Tonight you get a bath with ice water, tomorrow morning is your steam shower and a quick workout in the gym for about an hour, and then you've got another fight at ten tomorrow night." I let my thoughts fill with her and her alone.

"Kate thanks, you always have my back no matter what and I wanted to thank you." I spoke sincerely, straight from my heart. Her green eyes flew up to mine and her smile grew tenfold. She replied with one word that made my heart swell, made my whole body warm, despite the frigid temperature and the fact that I was only wearing a pair of shorts.

"Always." We held each other's gaze until I felt something cold touch my bare skin. Apparently Kate felt it to because we looked up simultaneously. It was snowing.

**Sorry this is probably awful I had to get it out of my head. If you're in the mood leave a review if not that's ok to.**


	2. Chapter 2

Kate's Perspective

I was lying in bed with Rick Castle. We had not been intimate, just shared a bed. Currently in Chicago, we were staying together and splitting the cost of the room. I picked him up in New York, I saw him fighting. Something about him was just captivating. When I found him, he was totally calm in the ring; he didn't use the inevitable adrenaline rush like so many before him. He didn't punch or kick. He simply used his partner's body weight against them. When the man threw a punch, Rick moved to the side and pushed the man's body into his out stretched knee. I watched his whole fight before losing him in the crowd. I was in the ring when I felt his eyes on me. After that fight he followed me and begged me to train him. He had good instincts, some money, and an interesting fight style; naturally I agreed to train him.

"Rick! Get up! Time for your steam shower." I pulled the blankets off of him. I paused for a moment when his sculpted chest was exposed. After seeing his bare chest every day you would think I'd get used to it. I don't think I'll ever get used to him, but I'll never tell him that. The first time we fought each other, he had me on my back in mere seconds. I had made an inevitable mistake that could only be made when fighting Rick. I looked into his eyes. I was entranced by the depth and emotion in them and I forgot where I was and what I was doing. One minute I was staring into his sky blue eyes the next I was staring at the actual sky. After that, we fought evenly sometimes he would win, and others I. We picked up moves from fighting each other and we started to fight better than before, on our own. The thing that amazed me though, was how well we worked together as a team. I usually train on my own six days a week, then on Sunday's I go visit a small gym that's no bigger than a garage, the guys only fight in there if there's snow on the ground, most of the action happened in the parking lot. Before Rick and I left for Chicago we had taken a trip to the shabby gym. The guys had wanted to pile on the new meat, see what Castle could do but I wouldn't let them gang up on him. This led to them ganging up on us, and eventually out of the eight people standing, we were the only two that remained. We worked together, had each others backs, and we dominated.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. Steam shower eh? Wanna come?" He asked. His eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. I just rolled my eyes not trusting my voice.

"One of these days you're going to say yes." He teased. "It'll be next week! My fights are over and yours begin! You'll be the one who needs a steam shower." I stifled a giggle at the childish excitement that came over his features. He actually took a quick shower and didn't complain when I made him spar me in the gym for an hour afterwards. At the gym our playful fighting ended like it always did, with us parallel to each other on our backs, not able to continue. We usually spent about half an hour actually fighting then end up falling and rolling around on the ground for the remainder of the hour. It was kind of fun though, when our fighting took on a more wrestling type quality. It gave us new tricks to use when we weren't all tired and sweaty. Sparing like that with Rick left me breathless in more ways than one though, and lately I've found that when he pins me to the mat, I don't want to get up. I yell at him for thinking in fights, but when we're sparing it's all I can do to not think of the unspeakable things I want from his body.


	3. Chapter 3

I starred at this girl analyzing her every move. She used her feet a lot. I got in close and delivered a few quick punches to the torso. My adversary hunched over and I delivered a solid kick to her ribs, not hard enough to break them, just hard enough force to leave a bruise. The girl fell over quickly and as I stood in the center of the ring I looked for the familiar pair of blue eyes in the audience. He had a full smile of white teeth that momentarily left me speechless. I grinned at him, we were going to meet outside but I walked into the crowd instead, people were shuffling around and I couldn't keep my balance. I was pushed into Rick's solid chest and felt my stomach flutter at the sudden contact; I could feel my face heating up and looked at the ground.

"Sorry" I mumbled. I felt the oncoming urge to kiss him until my knees buckled and my face was blue. I surged backward like he was a hot stove and I had just been burned. Where in hell did that thought come from? I did not have any right to pursue a relationship with Rick, our relationship was strictly professional.

"No, no it's ok!" He said in a rush. I brought my eyes up to meet his intense blue ones. He seemed concerned.

"Kate are you alright? Your fight looked fine, I didn't see the girl land one kick, did I miss something?" He asked. His eyes raked over my body and even though he was looking for injuries I felt my body react to him. I could tell he noticed, his eyes changed, at first they had been a light blue color, they turned a deeper, cobalt blue, something told me his eyes would be close to black if we ever…I couldn't let my mind drift there, I had to keep our relationship professional. There was just something so intimate about watching his emotions shift, seeing those changes through his gorgeous eyes. This man, who I had known for the better part of a month, was surprisingly private. Despite spending every waking moment with him, I realized I didn't know much about him. I hoped to get to know him, maybe even needed it.

I dreamed about marrying this guy, having a little girl running around with my chocolate brown hair and his breath taking blue eyes. That thought shook me, it rattled me to my core, which had never happened before, I had never dreamed about getting married and having kids since I was one, and I'm twenty-two for goodness sake! Rick's only twenty-six, I couldn't believe contemplating being with him forever, I needed to escape my own mind, I needed to fight, and I needed a distraction.

"Kate, if you don't feel well you can drop out, we can find a new tournament, and you don't have to keep going for me." He said quietly. I shook my head I needed a good fight to get him off my mind.

"No, sorry I'm just a little nervous." I spoke quietly, if I told him anything else he would have taken me out of the tournament, and I needed this next match. He nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry Kate, you will be amazing, this is your last fight. Then we get on the road and go to California. You can do it." I looked at the sincerity in his eyes.

"I know, I know, remember? We never give up, we never back down." He grinned at me and for the second time that night I wanted nothing more than to kiss him senseless. I was in a great mood as I stepped into the ring, ready to do some ass-kicking.

**Sorry this is so short but for some reason while writing this story it comes to me in short little bursts. Reviews brighten my day but, if you're not in the mood you're not in the mood.**

**-P**


	4. Chapter 4

I groaned as the cold Chicago air hit my body. Rick and I had not yet left for California, I would be grateful for the temperature change when we did. I climbed onto the roof of the hotel we were staying in. The sky was getting brighter with every moment that passed, the day was waking. I saw him there, just a shadow in the sky, calmly sitting with his feet hanging off the roof. He didn't turn, if he heard my footsteps he didn't give any indication.

"Hey" It was one word but the message it conveyed was much more than a single syllable.

"I like it up here, being alone relaxes me, but you're welcome to stay." I smiled and sat down next to him. I saw a notebook lying on the ground with a pen stuck inside. I looked at it and then back up at him.

"I like to write, it's actually what I went to college for. I really only started fighting because I was good at it and I needed to pay the bills." He pulled out his wallet. "It's my daughter, in college, I got a girl pregnant, I tried to do the right thing by marrying her, but, six weeks after our honeymoon I found her in our bed with another man." My eyes were wide, how could I have missed this? Rick was funny, smart, and spouted dirty comments like a garden hose. He was not broken, he did not have a daughter, he was not grounded by reality, or at least it didn't show. He handed me the picture, the young red head could not have been more than two but she had a huge heartwarming smile and Rick's gorgeous blue eyes.

"Her name's Alexis." He said.

"She's beautiful, but Rick, I didn't ask, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said, I didn't want to push him into telling me personal things if he wasn't comfortable doing so.

"Kate you've been not asking very loudly for days. It was inevitable; I was going to tell you sometime." He said giving me a smile. "I left her in New York with my mother. Now you know where I go every day, when I talk on the phone forever." I grinned, but decided that it was time to tell him about myself, if he was so willing to share his life with me.

"I had a baby, in high school, I was the straight 'A' student that did nothing but study. One night I had a huge fight with my mom. I went out to a club found a hot guy that had one thing on his mind and everything went downhill from there. The moment my dad found out he kicked me out of the house. That killed my mom, she begged him to let me stay, but at that point I was already gone. Alex died when I was giving birth to him. I began to work out, I went to that little shabby gym, the guys taught me how to fight, I took any job I could find, I worked full time, went to school full time, even during the summer. I graduated early, I was only twenty one. I was fighting full time when I found you, and well you know the rest." As I was talking silent tears streamed down my face, Rick took my hand; I clutched his like a life line squeezing him tightly.

"I never told anyone this before Rick." I whispered to him. "You are safe with me." I couldn't face reality. I must have been dreaming. I could not really be having this conversation with this man. Rick was a light hearted, joking, fun, man who couldn't be serious to save his life, now he was acting more mature, more down to earth than everyone I know. I took refuge in his comment; I knew he meant more than just my secrets. He patted my hand twice, kissed it, grabbed his notebook and went inside the building. A smile formed on my face and I shook my head. I will forever be amazed by Rick Castle and the depth to his personality.


	5. Fun in the sun, bird poop?

"Castle, hurry up! It shouldn't take you this long to put a swim suit on!" I yelled. I was ready to go to the beach; I had a towel, a good book, and hid my bikini under my tee shirt and board shorts. I had to wait for Rick who was currently in the bathroom changing; he was taking longer than me!

"Alright, alright I'm coming, I'm coming." He walked out and it was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping. He was simply wearing a pair of black swim shorts, but he had no shirt on. I swear, I could look at his chest all day. I just wanted to run my hands over it or lay my head on it, I wanted to be close to him.

"So why the sudden trip to the beach, I know this is California, but I expected you would want to stay in the hotel gym working out 24/7. Not that I'm complaining, just curious." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Remember how you were telling me about that move? The one where the girl used a kick to the stomach as a distraction and support, then brought her other leg up for a kick to the head?" He nodded. "You're going to help me learn to do that, and since you need to be really quick and have both feet off the ground, where better to practice than in the water?" It was a rhetorical question, his eyes lit up. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

"So does that mean that when we're not training, and when we're not fighting, we'll be at the beach?" He asked excitedly. I rolled my eyes but nodded my head. After he was done squealing like a little girl, we finally left for the beach.

"Ok now Rick I need you to stand very still." I said. We were in the ocean, but deep enough so that the waves were not huge. I put a soft kick to his stomach, then quickly brought my foot up to place a kick over his head, but before I could move my body enough, I slipped, my lower foot brushed softly down his body and I gasped as my foot stayed on his shoulder, my legs we in a split and I could feel his breath on my crotch, that was only covered by my thin bathing suit. I was hot and flustered in more ways than one.

"Oh my goodness, Kate are you alright?" I laughed, I stretch and do splits every day.

"Relax, I do splits every day, I just don't let you see, you'd blow a gasket." He seemed to calm down for a moment then his eyes widened.

"Wow you're flexible." He had a sly smirk on his face and I couldn't decide if I wanted to kiss off or slap off.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go again." I told him. He nodded and we went back to practice.

Later, we were sitting on the sand looking out at the waves, when suddenly a bird swooped down really low near our heads.

"What the hell?" Castle exclaimed loudly. He brought a hand up to his head. His fingers came down covered in white goo. I started laughing.

"Looks like you just got shit on, I guess someone dislikes your hair." He looked pissed off but I just laughed harder.

"Oh, you think this is funny do you?" He rubbed his hand on my stomach it shot sparks through my body, I gasped, It made my stomach pull in and the white poop drip into the bottom of my bikini.

"Castle!" I yelled. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open when I stuck a finger in my bikini bottom and wiped up the unwanted goo. I took my finger and wiped it on his cheek then ran like a madwoman down to the ocean, to wash off my stomach. He followed me and raised his hands.

"Truce?" He asked? I hadn't gotten onto the water yet so I raised my hands and walked over and gave him a hug covering his chest in bird poop. He grinned.

"Truce." I told him.

"So you wanna wash me off? I'd love to help you out."

"No Castle."


	6. And the world comes crashing down

I grinned, this was easy, this was familiar, I was used to this it came naturally. I threw a solid yet soft kick to the stomach, and then spun my body, my foot making contact with the girls face. I landed successfully on two feet but the girl fell. She stayed on the floor, she gave up. I finally let myself hear the crowd, they were cheering, screaming loudly. They had expected the other girl to win; she had a bigger frame, and looked much more solid and a lot stronger than I. They should know better than to underestimate opponents because of their size. Once the man raised my hand, I had to move quickly if I wanted to see Rick in action. Once I got to the ring, the match had already begun. The man he was fighting was a good foot taller than him, but Rick quickly placed a kick to his stomach, moved faster than I would have expected and placed a kick to the side of his head. The guy seemed dazed for a few seconds but then quickly kicked Rick's legs out from under him his head hit the ground with a thud. Castle didn't get up, I waited all of a second before I launched into action I flew like a mass of limbs without control toward the man punching, kicking, inflicting as much pain as possible, it took four men to pull me off of him, tears were streaming down my face my body thrashing wildly, I didn't notice that the man was lying on the ground unconscious or that Rick had gotten up and was one of the men pulling me off of his opponent, not until he touched my face, weather it was the emotions running through me or just the effect Rick had on me; I felt like I was struck with a lightning bolt. Somewhere in my uncontrolled haze I knew it was Rick, I turned latched onto him, my legs coming around his waist, feet not touching the ground, and kissed him full on the mouth not caring that I had just beat up some random guy or that there were way to many witnesses for my liking. When we finally broke apart Rick looked into my eyes and whispered "Kate." From that moment I knew I was hooked, I would never be able to live without Rick Castle, I could have gotten killed or arrested throwing myself at that guy but I didn't care; the only thought that crossed my mind was that he hurt Rick. I smiled at him and said three words that I have never said to any man before.

"I love you." His eyes widened and a smile broke out across his face like he had just won ten million dollars.

"I love you too, Kate." Then his smile broke, his face turned sad.

"Kate when we get back to the hotel I have to tell you something, but you have to promise me that you won't be mad, or anything." he looked serious, my mind flew to a million different possibility's but I just nodded.

**Sorry this is so short and I haven't posted in forever but…**

**Ohhhhh what's Castles secret? Is he a murderer? hahahah**


	7. The end

"Kate, you saw my note book that night that we were on the roof." My eyes widened and I nodded.

"Well I never told you this but, remember when I said that I liked to write and it was what I went to college for." I nodded again wondering where this was going.

"Kate, I just got published, they want me to write more, they said that my book could become a great series." I nodded, I knew what came next, he was going to tell me that he was going back to New York to be with Alexis and write, he would tell me that I should stay here and keep fighting, to not quit because of him. I was on the verge of tears when his voice broke my thoughts.

"Kate, I'm going back to New York, and I know it's unfair of me to even ask you this but, would you come with me?" I looked him dead in the eyes, I knew I would go anywhere for this man, this sweet, gentle but yet rough man that is my equal in every way. He stayed with me through all of the fights, I trusted him to not hurt me when we were sparring together to not take advantage of his size and weight and now I was ready to trust him with my heart as well. I beamed up at him.

"Rick, I would love to go with you." I looped my arms around his neck and kissed him, but he pushed me away.

"Kate, our plane leaves in an hour and If we start that now I don't know if I'll be able to stop." I glared at him.

"You booked us plane tickets without even knowing if I would say yes?" He nodded sheepishly but I just brushed it off and got to packing.

2 years later

"Rick?" I asked. I had just come in the door to our loft. I knew that Alexis would be at school and Rick would be home alone.

"Yes, Mrs. Kate Castle?" He asked coming up behind me and sucking on my neck. I bit back a groan; I wanted to tell him about my great day.

"Guess what?" He spun me around.

"You're home very early and we have lots of hours to do whatever we want until Alexis gets home?" I laughed.

"Yes but that wasn't what I was talking about. You're looking at detective Kate Castle." His eyes widened he picked me up and spun me around.

"Kate that's amazing! We've wanted this for so long! Oh you are going to be an extraordinary detective!" I giggled.

"Now on to more important matters, how long do we have until Alexis gets home?" I asked as I started to unbutton his shirt.

"Preschool ends at three, and according to that clock its only ten so if you don't want to stop for lunch…" I grinned.

"You read my mind."

**I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, you truly brighten my day. **

**Special thanks to:**

**Miniwriter305- thank you for the amazing review, it made my night. Haha**

**SarahAnneDaisyBlakeley- you made me want to update like every five minutes**

**Sportsnerd8482 – well you know how awesome you are haha.**

**Lauwer – for quickly becoming one of my favorite reviewers **

**Christine Spencer- for knowing my story better than I know it myself**

**Castlebeckett siempre- for just simply stating your thoughts**

**NaughtyMick- for always coming back**

**KB-RC23 – for knowing my plans before I reveal them muahhahaha**

**DanahNYPD – for just being you**

**LadyLuck282 – well, you know why I would want to thank you, haha, you're amazing**

**Caffinate-me – ha for persuading me to always write more**

**Thank you all so much I hope you liked it.**


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